Translucent dice



DBC. 31,' 1940. w; T CHRISTY 2,227,406

TRANSLUGENT DICE Filed Aug. 7, 1939 (Xttorneu Patented Dec. 31, 1940 PATENT OFFICE TRANSLUCENT DICE William T. Christy, Kansas City, Mo., assignor to Winner Supply Company, Kansas City, Mo.

Application August 7, 1939, serial No. 288,689

1 Claim.

In the manufacture of dice iny order to attain a perfectly hat face it is necessary to drill or bore sockets to make the spots and to later fill these spots with paint, enamel or compound of 5 color contrasting to the color of the body of the die. The spots should not be placed on the surface since they not only quickly wear off, but provide an uneven playing face on the various faces due to the variation in the number of spots.

The practice of countersinking the spots leads to an unbalanced condition in the die since the greater the number of spots, the lighter that particular face of the die becomes due to the loss of material.

To compensate for this lack of balance, it is possible to drill the spots varying depths so that the one spot would be the deepest and then the spots progressively becoming shallower and ending with the six, in which each spotv would theoretically be just 1/6 the depth of the one spot. This method can be practiced to advantage with opaque dice, but with translucent dice it cannot be done unless the invention of the instant application is employed as will hereinafter appear,

since the observer Will immediately note a variation in depth of the various spots and the die will be rejected as defective. When a transparent or translucent die of usual construction, is observed from any point of view by reflection V of direct light, the depth of the spots is quickly and easily apparent due to the light reflecting effect of the White or other die-contrasting paint or enamel used to make the spots on the die.

Instead of boring the spots to varying depth as above pointed out, it has been found that the most practical method of die manufacture is to bore all of the spots to the same depth, thus making the faces having the greater number of spots lighter in` Weight than the other spots. These spots are then counterbalanced by weights inserted in the paint, enamel or the like, filling the spots, with the result that all of the spots appear to be deeply drilled. To an experienced dice player, deeply drilled spots are objectionable, not only because he has no means of judging between fair and unfair counterweighting, but

also due to the confusion in reading the spots caused by the reflection of light from the contrasting color material marking other than the played face of such a translucent die.

After considerable experimentation, I have found that it is possible to drill all spots to the same depth, and then line all of said spots with opaque material of the same color as the particular translucent die with which it is used. With this arrangement, the depth of the spots is not observed by reflection of light from the filling in the spots, and all of the spots when viewed by direct light, will appear to be very shallow, in fact will have the appearance of the true thickness of the opaque spot marking contrasting counterbore filler as will hereinafter appear. 5 There are a number of different arrangements for producingdice embodying the invention, and` although the preferred methods are shown in the drawing, it is to be understood that the drawing is by way of example and not restrictive as to l0 the means employed, since the gist of the invention lies in an` arrangement to reflect the same color or light as reflected by the body of the die.

In the drawing: Figure 1 illustrates the preferred construction, and Figure 2 illustrates 15 a modified form of spot treatment, and Figure 3 is an enlarged section on the line III-III of Figure l.

In Figure 1 it may be considered that a red translucent die is illustrated. The spots l of said 20 die are all drilled to the same depth, then a coating of opaque paint, enamel or the like 2 of the same color or tint as the body of the die, is now placed on the bottom and side walls of the drilled spot. By preference, the coating 2 on 25 the side wall of the drilled spot terminates just short of beingflush with the face of the die, so that when the spot is completed by insertion of the contrasting spot ller 3 (usually white), com taining the counterbalance 4, a counterbore above 30 the lining 2 is provided, which regulates or fixes the apparent depth of the spot by the refiection of light. Another method of practicing the in vention is shown in Figure 2, where the spot is filled with-an opaque plastic compound 5 of the 35 same color as the translucent die, the ller leaving a space or counterbore to receive the spotrnarking enamel or paint t, and containing the embedded counterweight 1.

From the above description it will be apparent 40 that I have produced a construction embodying the features of advantage set forth as desirable; and while I have described and illustrated the preferred embodiment it is to be understood that I claim all changes within the spirit and scope 45 of the appended claim.

I claim:

A colored playing die having translucent and light reflecting capabilities and provided with spots, each spot comprising a recess, an opaque 50 liner within each recess, said liner being of the same color as the body of the die and reflecting light rays: corresponding in color to those reflected by the body of the die, and a spot marking material within said recess outwardly of the 55 liner.

WILLIAM 'I'. CHRISTY. 

